gonna go watch obsession in theaters. very excited to have meta thoughts after experiencing it on the big screen. for now i just wanna say that bear killing his cat through the negligence of his poor choices (re: leaving opioids lying around) is a BRILLIANT metaphor and piece of foreshadowing for like. literally Everything that's going to happen in his relationship with nikki.
Not only that, but in screenwriting there is a well known trope called "save the cat," wherein within the first act, you have your protagonist save a cat in order to establish their character and get the audience to like them (this can be any heroic or kind act on the characters part — though sometimes they literally save a cat).
One of the first things this film does is have Bear kill his cat.
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nikki breaks my heart so bad because in the brief moments we see her before the wish kicks in, she's so cool and funny, clearly kindhearted, very driven about her future (telling bear about how she was going to quit her job to focus on her writing), and also very sure of herself as a person. ive seen people describe this movie as "mean-spirited" and I think thats so apt because it was a 2 hour long tragedy of the torture of this innocent girl, taking away everything she's ever had, including her own sense of self, putting her through unimaginable horrors, and leaving her with nothing except the three dead bodies of her friends, with the one who she trusted most being the one who did this to her. nothing for her to look for hope in, because she has nothing before her except a lifetime in prison or in an institution. it would be one thing if the movie ended on a note like weapons, where everything was over and there would hopefully be recovery somewhere down the line, but here, not only was the evil not committed by a random stranger but her closest friend, but she doesn't get any chance at recovery either. so goddamn tragic. on that note, if anyone can come up with some sort of fix-it for nikki please link it to me because I will be crying about this girl forever.
oh and another thing that devastates me about Obsession is how much nikki is judged and blamed by those around her. sarah and ian repeatedly telling bear that he shouldn’t have to deal with her, that she’s not his responsibility, that they’re worried she’s taking advantage of him. as if they aren’t also her friends, as if they shouldn’t know her well enough to notice something is off. there’s no concern for why nikki is behaving the way she is, there’s just distain towards it. she starts acting out of character and so it must all be intentional. but bear doesn’t get questioned. bear isn’t gossiped about. nikki loses all her agency and autonomy, and all she gets for it is judgment
One thing about Obsession (2026) that I enjoyed was that it almost asks you to feel empathy for the entity possessing Nikki as well as the real one. Like, obviously the things she's doing are horrific and fucked up, but I think the scene where Bear is asking her to "just be Nikki!" and she eventually just desperatly screams "I can't be Nikki!" does a really good job of showcasing the entity's inner feelings. She's been created with the sole purpose of loving this guy more than anyone else but no matter how perfect it is or how much he claims to love her, its not her that he loves, its Nikki. And any time she stops pretending to be Nikki, he reacts (albeit rightfully) with disgust and horror. She can't be Nikki because Nikki would never love Bear, and so Bear will never love her.
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Suddenly you’re 21 and you’re screaming along in your car to all the songs you used to listen to when you were sad in middle school and everything is different but everything is good
It's been absolutely forever since I posted fanfiction onto Tumblr, but I saw this art from @quillflower-art and couldn't help myself.
Read on AO3.
Enjoy!
Mira can't believe she was fooled so easily. There's so much going on, and when she saw the demons taking Bobby away, it doesn't matter that she and Zoey need to get back onstage. Rumi can hold her own, but Bobby isn't a part of this. He doesn't know about demons, doesn't know that the whole reason Huntr/x even exists is to stop them, and she has to save him.
It's a trick, and Mira only has a few moments to grit her teeth before she hears the starting beat of "Takedown."
On the screen, Mira sees herself and Zoey, clearly not actually them, moving through the choreography Mira made, and Rumi looks so lost that it stabs into Mira's heart.
It's not us, Mira thinks, Rumi has to know it's not us.
Zoey and Mira both say Rumi's name as they watch Demon-Zoey shove Rumi, and Mira's only thought as she runs is that Rumi thinks it's them.
They make it onstage just as the demon version of themselves pull at Rumi's jacket, revealing her shoulders before ripping it off completely.
Mira can't remember the last time she saw Rumi wearing anything that showed her shoulders. Even in rehearsal and training, Rumi only ever wore shirts with longer sleeves and hoodies, but as her jacket falls, Mira sees them.
Patterns.
The lights go out once the song ends, and Demon-Zoey and Demon-Mira join Jinu at the end of the stage.
"Mira," Zoey whispers, her eyes never leaving Rumi. "Are those-?"
Their demons let the purple patterns flash across Mira and Zoey's fake skin, and for a moment, Mira thinks that Rumi, on her knees spotlighted on stage, must not be Rumi either. It can't be, because-
Because-
Demons wouldn't be so afraid around others, though. Mira can rationalize enough to know that if this version of Rumi were a demon, she wouldn't be curled into herself on the ground, eyes wildly looking around her like an animal backed into a corner.
The demons let Zoey and Mira's faces fade, leaving behind their own as they start to advance on Rumi.
Mira still hasn't responded to Zoey's question. She still hasn't wrapped her mind around anything, but she knows exactly what she sees in front of her.
Rumi is scared and alone, too terrified to even summon her sword and defend herself, and Mira knows enough right now to know that whatever form she's in, whatever has happened to her, that's her Rumi.
And if her Rumi can't protect herself, then Mira and Zoey need to do it for her.
"It doesn't matter right now," Mira says, "She needs us."
The demons advance closer, claws drawn and ready to attack, and Rumi still hasn't pulled her sword from the Honmoon. She's alone where she's collapsed onstage, every vulnerable part of her open to attack, but the demons never make contact.
Sharp claws scrape the blade of Mira's gok-do, and Zoey's knife just barely skims the cheek of the other. In defending Rumi, it brings Mira down into a crouch, her gok-do held in a defensive position, and Zoey steps in front of Rumi with her knives fanned out.
The demons reel back with a hiss as Mira hears Rumi say her name. It comes out like a gasp, her voice soft and unbelieving.
"It's us," Mira promises, "And you're you, right?"
Up close, Mira can see the purple patterns glowing, and Rumi's hands have demon claws sprouting from them. On one hand, it makes Mira feel sick, because she doesn't understand. She doesn't know why Rumi is like this, what happened to her, but she can't care right now.
Right now, one of her them is in danger, and Mira needs to keep her safe.
"I'm me." Tears shimmer as they pass over patterns. "I promise I'm me."
"We've got you," Zoey says, a knife passing over her fingers and into the heart of the demon coming for them.
Mira pushes herself up and sends her gok-do through the stomach of the other.
From the end of the stage, Jinu watches them closely. "You can't win," he says, "Gwi-Ma is too powerful."
Zoey sends a knife at him, aimed right for his heart, but he sidesteps it easily.
"You've failed."
His patterns flash over skin, taunting them along with a smile.
"You've all failed."
He disappears in a cloud of smoke, and Mira hears the fans murmuring around them, but all she can think is that something has happened, something she can't explain, and Rumi is right in the middle.
Mira turns and offers Rumi a hand, but Rumi hesitates. Her claws still just an inch from Mira's help, and Zoey crouches down beside her.
"What happened?" Zoey asks, tears welling up. Rumi flinches away from the hand Zoey tries to place on her shoulder.
Rumi shakes her head, and right as she closes her eyes, Mira sees that her left eye is yellow and slitted. "Not here," Rumi grasps out, "I can't be here. You can't be here. You weren't supposed to see."
Mira takes a step closer, but Rumi's eyes go wide at the gok-do still in her hand. "I'm me, I promise!" Rumi's voice is desperate. "Please, I'm still me! These were supposed to go away. The Honmoon, I saw it! It was golden and these were supposed to go away!"
Rumi's eyes never leave Mira's weapon.
She thinks we're going to attack.
Around them, the Honmoon pulses pink. Mira can see it pulling apart underneath them, and she realizes that it isn't only because the Saja Boys have made enough room for Gwi-Ma to come through.
Rumi's desperation is pulling it apart too.
Zoey backs away, her knives fading back into the failing Honmoon. "Rumi, it's okay."
Mira lets her gok-do dissipate too, and she puts her hands up. "What is going on?"
She doesn't get an answer. In a swirl of magenta, Rumi is gone.
"She has patterns," Zoey breathes out. "How does she have patterns?"
Mira lets out a frsutrated noise through grit teeth. "Why did she run?"
The screens crackle to life, shrouding the entire arena with pinks and purples.
"Hey, everybody." Jinu's face lights up the screen, all of the Saja Boys behind them in the demonic robes. "You must all be so sad about the Huntr/x breakup. We are too. So, to cheer everyone up, we're going to do a special live performance tonight. Midnight, Namsan Tower. Don't miss it for the world."
Whispers, barely audible and completely incomprehensible, flutter to Mira's ears. In moments, she can understand exactly what they're saying.
"It's cute, the way you thought you could help her," the voices whispers to her, "She lied. You know she lied."
Zoey clamps her hands around her own ears, and Mira wonders if it's the same.
"You thought you found a family, didn't you?" The voices start to shift, first sounding like her father, her mother, her brother, all of them together. "Would your family lie to you? Hide something so big?"
"No," Mira says to herself, shaking her head to push the thoughts away.
Zoey falls to her knees, her eyes squeezed shut. "I'm too much," she grits out, "It's why Rumi ran. I was too much. I'm always too much."
"Look at her now." The voices make Mira look down to Zoey, but it stops every part of her that wants to help. "Your family is done."
"My family is done," Mira agrees.
She turns on her heels and leaves Zoey on her own, her mind getting hazy as she falls in with all of the fans headed to Namsan Tower.
Seconds, minutes, maybe hours, pass. Mira loses Zoey, and as the demons keep whispering to her, she starts to lose herself too.
All of her good memories are overwritten. "Lies," the demons hiss as Mira's mind and hunter training do everything it can to keep her where she needs to be. "Every part of your family was a lie."
She stands in a crowd of people equally hypnotized as the Saja Boys come onstage. Even through all of the voices and fuzz, Mira knows one thing.
In four hundred years of hunters, Rumi, Mira and Zoey would be the first to fail.
"Of course you failed." The demonic voice in her head cackles. "You were never good enough to defeat Gwi-Ma. The Honmoon chose wrong."
It did, Mira thinks. If it hadn't chosen her, if she hadn't been so broken and noticed the things around her more, maybe she could've done better.
Maybe they all could've.
But then, the demonic whispers, the voices that sound so much like her family, stop, because something else floods Mira's mind instead.
She knows that voice, has memorized it inside and out over years working and training together.
Rumi, singing the song Celine taught Mira and Zoey at the start of their training.
Celine didn't have to teach it to Rumi then. Rumi had spent her entire life singing that song, living and breathing it.
The same song that put into "Golden" because it felt just right.
Rumi's voice snaps Mira out of it enough to realize she's nowhere near the stage, nowhere near Rumi or Zoey, but she's here.
And when Rumi's voice reaches out to her, "her voice without the lies," Mira feels it. She feels the truth in it all, the fear and uncertainty but the one thing that has always been true.
Rumi is theirs, hers and Zoey's, whether something happened to her to give her the patterns or whether they were always there.
It's been slowly pushing them apart, but now, it's the only thing that can bring them back to here, now, Gwi-Ma's fires huge, but Mira and Zoey's voices joining Rumi's, slotting in exactly where they always belonged.
She doesn't know where Rumi found the perfect words, or how her and Zoey find their harmonies so easily, but it doesn't matter.
The Honmoon starts to knit itself back together as they fight demons to get to where three pathways meet.
In any other moment, she would've laughed at it.
Three pathways, one for each of them, but they meet in the middle just the same, just as Rumi, Mira and Zoey were always meant to find one another.
Rumi holds onto them tight, her demon eye and claws gone but the patterns still there. The last time Mira saw them, they were purple, just like any other demons, but now, they glow iridescent.
"I'm sorry," Rumi whispers, just for them, "I'll explain, I promise, but-"
"Get them!" Gwi-Ma screams, and more demons come down from the main stage.
"That," Mira says sarcastically, "We should probably handle that." She summons her gok-do.
Zoey summons her knives. "Our moment was nice while we had it."
And Rumi summons her sword. "There will be plenty of time after."
~*~
After, the girls go home.
On the elevator ride up, their adrenaline finally starts to crash, and their excited shouts of, "We did it!" and, "We didn't die, thank god," diminish to almost nothing.
The elevator dings on their floor, and everything catches up to them with each step they take into their apartment.
Zoey yawns and rubs at her eyes, and Mira has to catch the back of her jacket to remind her to take off her shoes in the entryway. "I don't care about American culture right not," Mira responds to Zoey's grumbling, "No shoes in the house."
Rumi, already knelt down to unlace her own boots, motions for Zoey to step closer to her to unlace and loosen Zoey's boots as well.
It's soft in the way she doesn't really say anything. She just pulls her boots off and motions Zoey over. Mira lets Zoey use her shoulder to steady herself after they're loose enough to join the rest of their shoes scattered around.
Zoey slinks into the living room, every part of her movement screaming exhaustion and overuse, and Mira offers her hand to Rumi.
"Come on." Under the soft lighting of their entryway, Mira marvels at the patterns stretching across Rumi's skin.
When they were performing and fighting, they were lit iridescent, matching the Honmoon weaving itself back together, but now, they're almost like scars against her skin.
"We have a lot we need to talk about, and I'm not doing it like this."
Rumi hesitates to take Mira's hand, her fingers that were claws earlier held a centimeter from Mira's own, so Mira closes the distance. She helps Rumi up in one pull, and when Rumi stumbles, Mira puts her hand on Rumi's hip to steady her.
Rumi's eyes are her own again, deep brown and looking at Mira like she doesn't fully know how Mira can be so soft after everything.
"Go change," Mira says softly. Then, a little bit louder for Zoey, "You too."
She gets a thumbs up from Zoey as she changes paths from the couch to her room, and Mira nudges Rumi further into the apartment.
"Mira-" Rumi starts, but Mira cuts her off.
"Pajamas," Mira says, her voice as steady as it always is. "Then you can say whatever it is you need to, okay?"
Rumi doesn't argue. She leaves Mira alone in the entryway.
She sits on the bench they keep there and unlaces her boots, turned white from the magic of the Honmoon. In the mirror across the way, Mira finally looks at herself.
All things considered, she looks so much more put together than she feels. Her hair is a bit wild from fighting, but her clothes are untouched.
Swarms of demons rushed them, and Mira held off every single one that threatened her.
The only evidence of the fight is a light scratch just below her knee, a small bead of blood already dried. She touches it and feels the smallest twinge of pain, but that's it.
"Mira?"
When she looks up, Zoey is waiting for her in soft shorts and an oversized shirt. Her hair is down and flipping up against her shoulders, and she's looking at Mira like she's worried about her.
Mira smiles, and she hopes it's reassuring. "I'm okay."
Zoey rolls her eyes. "No, you're not," she says lightly, "I'm not."
It shows in the slump of her shoulders and even though she's worried about Mira, her head tilts in the direction of Rumi's room.
"I'll manage." Mira stands and walking over to Zoey. "You think you can stay awake a bit longer?"
Zoey's head tips forward and rests against Mira's shoulder. "I'll make some tea."
Mira breathes out a laugh and kisses the top of Zoey's head. "I'll be fast getting changed."
She leaves Zoey on her own, and in the quiet and dark of her bedroom, she finally lets herself crumble just a bit. She sits on her bed long enough to let the dark sink into her bones, but just as the demons' voices start whispering to her again, she's on her feet.
Mira grabs sweatpants and a shirt and clicks on the lamp she keeps on her bedside table to get changed. She leaves her Idol Awards outfit on the floor, the patterns of it catching the light and shimmering gold.
It's beautiful the way the Honmoon transformed everything to mirror itself.
And they matched Rumi's patterns.
Patterns she has because Rumi is a demon and didn't tell them.
Mira shakes herself out of it and leaves her room.
In the hallway, Rumi comes out at the same time as her. She's in a hoodie and sweatpants, all of her patterns covered except for the ones running along her face and hands.
Everything slots into place in Mira's mind. There were the sweaters in Seoul's sweltering heat and the stage outfits that never showed anything past her wrists.
This wasn't something that happened to Rumi. This is something she's always had.
Mira can't help the soft swell of anger knowing that Rumi never told them. She told Rumi and Zoey about her family, about snide remarks and the knowledge she would never be enough for them, no matter how hard she tried. She told them about defiance built up like armor and perfectly pressed collared shirts and brown hair traded out for who she is now.
She told them everything, and Rumi listened without feeling like she could tell Mira her own secrets.
Rumi must see something in her expression, because her gaze falls to the floor. "I didn't want to hide."
"So, why did you?"
"Celine told me you two would never understand," Rumi says softly, her hand coming up to cradle her right shoulder. "We're hunters, and I'm the thing we are meant to send back to Gwi-Ma, so I believed her. She made me think you two would hate me if you knew."
"We don't." Zoey's voice startles them both. "I don't really understand, and I can't lie and say that I'm not hurt, but I don't hate you."
We.
Zoey's speaking for both of them, and she's right.
"I'm angry," Mira admits, "But I don't hate you. I could never hate you."
"Even like this?" Rumi motions to her face and the patterns barely visible.
"Especially like this." Zoey steps past Mira to Rumi and cups her face. "Have you always had patterns?"
Jealousy starts to push anger from Mira's mind, because Zoey comforts Rumi so easily. Even from just the touch of contact and proximity, Rumi's walls are chipping, and Mira wishes it were her words and touch able to do that.
"My dad was a demon," Rumi explains, "I don't know him or much about him and how my parents got together, but I'm half-demon because of him."
Mira didn't even know it was possible for humans and demons to have children, let alone a hunter falling for the very being she was meant to kill.
Maybe she can understand Mi-Yeong, though, because she looks at Rumi and knows that nothing could change how Rumi makes her feel. Not the patterns, not the claws or the yellow eye she saw on stage.
None of it could make her love Rumi any less.
"They started on my shoulder." Rumi fills the silence. "When I was young, and up until recently, that stayed there, but something about this year made them spread, like the Honmoon kept pushing them further because it knew we were trying to create the golden seal."
Zoey's thumb runs over the patterns on Rumi's cheek, and Mira can't help herself from stepping forward and taking Rumi's hand. Rumi startles at the touch, but she doesn't pull back.
Rumi's patterns are warmer than the rest of her skin, and under Mira's thumb, they're soft like scars.
"Jinu knew too." Rumi's word catch and her eyes well up with tears. "When we were in the bathhouse, a demon got my sleeve, and he wrapped it so that you both wouldn't see. We met, and he was different. I didn't feel scared because he had patterns too." Tears start falling. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I should've trusted you both, but I was so scared."
Rumi's hands start going purple at the fingertips, the nails sharpening just enough, and Mira doesn't care that she's angry.
She doesn't care that Rumi lied, or that Jinu knew when Rumi wouldn't even trust her and Zoey to know.
She pulls Rumi into a hug, Zoey joining, before they collapse to the ground in a heap.
The floor of their hallway isn't comfortable, but Mira couldn't care less. Rumi shakes with sobs and choking out, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," over and over, and all Mira can do is hold onto Rumi as tight as she can and run reassuring hands over Rumi's back.
Zoey rests her head between Rumi's shoulder blades with her arms around Rumi's waist. "It's okay," she whispers, "We're here, and we're not going anywhere. We love you."
"We love you so much," Mira adds.
They sit like that until Rumi's sobs quiet to harsh deep breaths. She nuzzles into Mira's throat, her tears warm against Mira's skin, and Mira finds some happiness in all of the darkness.
Before, Rumi always pulled away. Mira and Zoey never understood, but they could only ever touch Rumi in short bursts and small touches. Every now and then, they'd get away with a lingering hug, but now, in Mira's arms, Rumi cuddles in closer, like the only thing keeping her tethered to Mira and Zoey is touching them.
Mira always just assumed Rumi pulled away because she wasn't comfortable, but now, she wonders just how touch starved Rumi must be.
"Okay," Mira says as Rumi's breaths start to finally even out and Zoey's eyes have slipped closed. "We can't sleep in the hallway."
She knows there's still so much to talk about, that Rumi got her chance to explain but Mira and Zoey didn't get the chance to say their part, but Mira also knows it can wait until morning.
"Rumi." She puts a finger under Rumi's chin to tilt her head up, and Mira is met with red stained, tired eyes. "Lets sleep in Zoey's room."
"No," she protests, "I can sleep in my room. It's okay-"
Mira covers her mouth. "Go to Zoey's room, Rumi. I'll be in once I can get Zoey on her feet."
She figures Rumi is too tired to fight her, because she pushes herself up and off of Mira and out of Zoey's hold. At the loss of contact, Zoey slumps forward to set her head in Mira's lap.
"Zo." Mira smiles. "We're not sleeping in the hallway."
She grumbles something, and Mira decides that getting Zoey on her feet isn't really a viable strategy right now.
"Fine." Mira gets a hand under Zoey's shoulders and another under her knees and hopes that her body doesn't fail her now. As she stands, Rumi helps her by taking some of Zoey's weight.
"I've got her," Mira promises. "Go get the door."
Rumi, their leader, the person Mira has always looked to despite being the oldest in the group, follows Mira's command without comment.
She sets Zoey down gently, and when she turns, Rumi waits in the doorway.
Mira meets her there and takes her hand, leading her into the room and closing the door. "Come lay down, Rumi." Mira keeps pulling her in. "I'm exhausted, and I know you are too."
"I haven't told you two everything."
"You've said enough for tonight." At the bed, Mira holds up the covers. "We have time."
Rumi hesitates before climbing in, and once she's settled under the covers, Zoey grabs onto her like a koala. Mira slides in behind Rumi and lets an arm drape over Rumi's waist.
In moments, every awake part of Mira starts to slip away. She can already hear Zoey's barely-there sleep talking and she feels Rumi untense beneath her arm, and it pulls Mira into sleep with them.
~*~
The first thought that springs into Mira's head in the morning is the fact that wherever she is, she's not alone. She can feel the warmth of someone else against her chest, and she likes whoever it is.
The second is that she forgot to close her curtains last night, and the early morning sun is keeping her from sleeping anymore.
Something shifts, and she hears the patter of socked feet moving around the room, and then the curtains are closed and the room is dark again.
Mira opens her eyes and sees purple. She blinks a few times and it's still there, and then, the bed shifts so much that the person in her hold uses Mira's arms to keep herself close.
"Zoey!" Rumi's voice mixes with her laughter.
"It was too bright!"
Mira just closes her eyes and lets out a groan.
"Oh, poor Mira." Zoey's giggles are too cute and too loud for how early it is.
Mira feels Rumi pull out of her arms and the sound of Zoey's muffled giggles.
"All I ask is for everyone to please lay down and stay quiet," Mira grits out, but there isn't any actual anger in it.
Now that she knows she's in Zoey's room, that it's Rumi in her arms, she knows she's safe.
When she opens her eyes again, Rumi has shifted so that she's lying on her back, and her patterns shine in the low light sneaking past the curtains.
And Mira remembers everything.
The Idol Awards.
Hearing "Takedown" and the pure fear she felt watching versions of herself and Zoey performing with Rumi.
And most of all, Rumi patterns, her claws and her one yellow, slitted eye.
Half-demon, her sleepy mind fills in.
She hears Rumi breathe out, "Fuck!" as she remembers too, and all at once, the lightness from this morning is gone. She slips herself out from under Mira's arm and pushes herself as far away as she can get without falling off the bed.
"Hey." Zoey struggles out of the covers. "Rumi, it's alright."
"We know." Mira sits up.
"Please don't run." Zoey puts a hand on Rumi's knee, and Rumi's flinches back, sending herself over and onto the floor.
Mira can't help a smile as she gets to the edge and looks at Rumi sprawled on the ground. "Zoey just asked you not to run."
"I didn't-" Rumi splutters. "I wasn't going to-" She lets out a frustrated sound and throws one of Zoey's stuffed animals at Mira.
She catches it easily. "At least you fell in Zoey's room with her plush rug."
Rumi glares at her.
"You put yourself there," Mira says, "The only one you can blame is you."
"Are you done?"
Mira shrugs. "I could keep going."
Rumi pulls herself up, and Mira moves to let her sit on the edge of the bed. "I'm sorry, I-" She pushes a few strands of stray hairs from her forehead. "I really wasn't running. I just forgot that-."
Her words trail off, but her hand coming up to her shoulder tells Mira everything she needs to know.
It hasn't even been 24 hours since the Idol Awards, since Mira and Zoey learned about Rumi's patterns.
"That makes sense." Mira settles herself back against the headboard. "It'll take some getting used to."
"For you," Zoey adds quickly, "Not for us! We're definitely already used to it."
Rumi gives Mira a look that she has seen a lot over the years. Zoey can't help wanting to please everybody, to make sure no one is uncomfortable and upset, just like she is right now.
"No," Mira says as she grabs Zoey's hand, "It'll take time for all of us. We won't just go back to normal in a day."
When Zoey goes to retort, Rumi grabs her other hand. "It's okay, Zoey. It's new to you both."
"I know it is, but it's not a bad new." Mira feels Zoey's hand twitch. "Your patterns were beautiful last night, and they're beautiful now."
Rumi's cheeks burn pink, and Mira notices that the edges of Rumi's patterns turn faintly iridescent. It's so different to how they were last night, shining like stars against Rumi's skin, but it's still there.
Zoey's eyes go wide. "Wow."
"What?" Rumi's hands come up to cover her face, but the slight iridescence is on the patterns on her hands too. "What is it?"
"Your patterns are glowing." Mira lets Zoey go to pull Rumi's sleeve down just a bit. "I've never seen anything like this."
Every demon they've ever fought had dusty purple patterns across their skin, and they were never like Rumi's. It's like Rumi's were dynamic, ever changing, connected to her and to the Honmoon.
Mira wonders why it's so different if her father was a demon like any other. She wonders why Rumi's patterns aren't the same as everyone else's, and the only theory she comes to is that it's the Honmoon.
The Honmoon chose all of them. It's how they can summon their weapons and see it in the first place, and it chose Rumi despite the patterns or who her father is.
Maybe it made her into something completely new.
"They've never done that," Rumi says, "Before last night, they've only ever been purple."
"They changed so much between the Idol Awards and Namsan Tower," Mira says, remembering them lit up a harsh purple and pink. "What happened after you ran?"
Rumi looks down and away, the patterns losing all of their light. She doesn't say anything for so long, and neither do Mira and Zoey.
Mira doesn't want to push, even as she watches Rumi lose all of the confidence she held so strongly last night. She wants to know what happened, she wants to know why Rumi didn't trust them before, why she ran, but she can't when Rumi looks at Mira and Zoey like they might hurt her.
She catches Zoey's sleeve to stop Zoey from touching Rumi. Zoey gives her a look that says, "Let go!" but Mira won't.
Anything could have Rumi running again, and Mira wants Rumi here safe.
"I don't want to push," Mira says.
"No, no, it's fine." When Rumi looks up, tears are welling in her eyes. "I want to be honest now. I want you guys to know as much as you can. It's just hard."
"Would you feel better over here with us?"
Rumi looks like she's going to say no, but something stops her. Mira wonders if it's Zoey being held by her sleeve or the softness of the morning, but Rumi moves back over to them. Zoey wraps her in a hug and lets Rumi's head rest against her shoulder, and Mira takes Rumi's hand.
They sit like that for a while, each of them finding it easier to lose hurt and anger here in bed, under the covers with just the light pouring in around the cracks. Mira and Zoey let Rumi speak in her own time, because they've got a lot of it now.
Might as well use it.
"I went to Celine," Rumi finally says, "I didn't know where else to go, and it's not like this would be shocking. She's always known, and I thought she would see me and be relieved I was okay, but all she wanted to do was hide it all again. She wanted to lie and say that it was all a part of Gwi-Ma's trick, but I couldn't do that to you two, not after you stood in front of me and kept me safe."
She takes a deep breath and lets it out shakily. "And I figured that the Honmoon must be breaking because of me, because I'm not any different from the demons we send back to Gwi-Ma, so I asked-" She chokes on a sob. "I offered my sword and I asked-"
Mira can fill in the gaps.
I asked her to kill me.
Mira's heart shatters, and Zoey can't help herself from crying.
Everything happened so quickly. One moment, Rumi was in front of them terrified, the next, they were in Gwi-Ma's clutches, and all Mira can think now is, She could've died, She asked to die, There would've been a world where Rumi no longer existed.
"Celine refused, but I know it's not because of me." Rumi uses her sleeve to wipe away some of her tears. "I know she's only ever cared about me because of my mom, and I just realized that Celine may love me, but she could never love all of me unconditionally."
And that hits Mira deep. It makes her think of her own parents and every stern talking to and punishment she ever received. The way her mother always asked, "How can we love you when you're like this?" or the way her father would shake his head and say, "You were meant to be better."
Mira was an expert in conditional love until she met Zoey and Rumi and learned that she could be loved simply for who she is.
Mira could only be loved if she fit into her parents' definition of their daughter, and Rumi could only be loved so long as she fought and killed demons.
And Mira chose rebellion while Rumi tried so hard to be the perfect hunter, and they both ended up here, insecure, broken and hiding from the first people to love them fully.
"I'm happy you're still here," Zoey whispers, "I love you so much, Rumi. I can't imagine a world without you in it."
Mira's words get stuck in her throat, but she wraps herself around Rumi's back and keeps her safe between them. Even if she can't talk, even if the words just won't come, Mira can do this for Rumi, because she loves Rumi more than anything.
"Also, I hope you know that we're not going to leave you alone for a bit," Zoey says, and her voice is trying to be light. She's trying to joke, but sincerity and fear can't help itself from pushing through. "Even if you don't feel like that anymore, it's still a really scary place to be."
"You two really don't-"
"It's non-negotiable." Mira finally finds her words. "You're used to being alone, but you don't have to be, and we just want to make sure you're safe." Alive, Mira's brain fills in, still with us, still breathing.
"Okay."
Mira knows that the next few days are going to be a lot like this. They need to reassure Rumi that they're here, they're not going anywhere, that Rumi can show them as much or as little as she wants, and Mira and Zoey will do just that until Rumi finally believes she's allowed to take up space. She can exist in their home, in their hearts, and she deserves to take up that space, to bask in that love.
They'll love the parts of Rumi she can't really love yet until Rumi finds that love too.
"Can we stay like this for a bit" Rumi asks. "It's nice."
"Of course!" Zoey's voice is happy again, and Mira breathes out a soft laugh.
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K-Pop Demon Hunters is about a 3 woman singing group.
All 3 of them live together in their own skyscraper.
Their idea of resting is sitting on the couch together watching YouTube videos.
They frequently want to go to the bathhouse together.
They check in on each other, compliment each other, get dressed and fight demons together…
The main crux of the story is about one of the trio being scared of coming out to the other two girls…
The big final climax of the film is the three of them shedding their fears and anxieties to embrace each other’s faults and this is what powers the Honmoon and their fans against evil…
…And you’re trying to tell me they’re into MEN?
…
Fuck off, this is the most queer coded STRAIGHT animated film I’ve ever seen.
Okay @nerafris is totally right and the original post is bi-erasing. I think if we changed it to "they're into ONLY men" then I'm fully on board with the message.
The movie establishes that they are attracted to men even if only aesthetically or sexually, but yeah you can be into man and still queer as fuck. Great callout, I should have caught it better on the first reblog.
also Reese talking to the machine always fucks severely he's always so matter of fact about it like Finch is dismissive and Root is reverent which are both fascinating in their own right but Reese looks at the face of god and is indifferent
The whole storyline of Root and the Machine (and Finch's response to it) in season three is so much funnier if you look at it like "Finch's daughter is in a rebellious phase and Root is the bad boy she's picked up to piss him off"
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Following their first meeting, Shaw begins hunting down Root out of anger, but there is also a definite element of fascination. Root managed to trick her completely, which is not easy to do given what we've seen of Shaw's cold-reading skills, and shares her enjoyment of violence.
Later, Root gets the drop on her again by showing up in her bedroom to kidnap her. Shaw is furious and only agrees to work together once Root proves she's getting orders from the Machine. Throughout this mission, she witnesses Root's loyalty, considerable skills and the promised violence (as well as other things in the CIA safehouse) that prove their compatibility.
While Root is in the Faraday Cage, Shaw consistently advocates for letting her help them. She still doesn't trust Root, but understands her and knows she will do what she's offering. Sure enough, Root is let out of the cage and saves Reese, which is when she earns Shaw's respect and trust.
Shaw now views her as part of the team, demonstrated by the way she easily begins working with Root when she rescues them from Control and is reluctant to leave her with Hersh, then goes to look for her at the end of the episode.
Shaw doesn't see Root again until she returns to New York in 3x17, at which point she displays concern for Root's welfare when she checks the dressings on her injuries. This could be because it weighed on her mind that the last she saw of Root was evidence she had been tortured, only to learn she had left the country with nothing but a brief message to Finch.
I headcanon that they began sleeping together again after this episode and it cements them as being on genuinely friendly terms. This is shown by Shaw enjoying the opportunity to do a relevant number with Root (including lots of violence), showing an interest in her life and suggesting a steak joint, implying that she wants to spend more time together, in 3x20.
I would also suggest it's around this point Shaw starts to realize Root has feelings for her, as Root's flirting progresses to adoring stares (3x17, 3x20), taking opportunities to touch her (3x22) and compliments ("She knows you can handle yourself." 3x22), in a way that seems genuine, rather than just trying to annoy her.
They continue as friends-with benefits, bantering and looking out for each other, until the turning point in 3x23. Upon learning Root is going into a Decima fortress alone and there's a good chance she'll be killed, Shaw stops in her tracks and decides to help her immediately. This is the moment she realizes Root means a lot to her, possibly in a different way than she's used to caring about people, and she can't stand the thought of her being in danger.
Although Shaw doesn't acknowledge this revelation in her interactions with Root, she clearly finds it difficult to walk away from her when they have to go their separate ways as Samaritan comes online.
In season 4, they don't get to spend much time together due to keeping up their cover identities. But Shaw still pays attention to and cares about Root, as she immediately knows something is wrong in 4x05.
In 4x07 Shaw meets Tomas, and is both attracted to him and intrigued by the life he's offering. But when the time comes to choose who she wants to be with, she picks Root. I would say this is the moment Shaw realizes she loves her, because although she sees the appeal of a glamorous life of crime abroad, what she really wants is to keep what she has with Root. She then goes to find Root, cites her reason for staying as "I guess there are things I care about here." and finds an excuse for them to spend time together. This is as close as Shaw gets to declaring her feelings.
Neither of them take the leap to change anything about their relationship, but their following interactions carry an undercurrent of intensity because they know what they mean to each other. Such as Root telling Shaw that "while you may not be scared about what could happen to you the next time, other people are. People who care for you." (4x09) and Shaw shoving grenades into her bag while saying, "She's going to meet an all-seeing, all-evil god by herself. That doesn't sound fine to me. That sounds like someone who needs backup." (4x10)
In 4x11, before sacrificing herself to save the team, Shaw kisses Root. Knowing it is her last opportunity to do so, she allows herself to embrace how much this brilliant, frustrating woman means to her.
Root's perspective
Root is already a fan of Shaw before their first meeting, having read her file and been impressed by her considerable skills. But, since misanthropy has been the driving force of her life, she is likely also intrigued by the idea of a heroic sociopath. And sure enough, once they meet it's a case of intense thirst at first sight, only furthered by Shaw's declaration that she "kind of enjoy[s] this sort of thing."
During their first mission together, Root clearly enjoys messing with Shaw ("Safety first." 3x06) and is thrilled to learn that she lives up to the reputation in her file. But Root also recognizes that Shaw actually listens to everything she says and acts accordingly. After a lifetime of being dismissed as crazy or a liar, that's significant.
In 3x12, when Root learns that Shaw came to look for her, she is genuinely touched and I would pinpoint this as the moment she realizes she has feelings for Shaw. She's been alone for nearly all her life, and now this incredible woman cares about her enough to come back.
When she returns to New York, her flirting is as blatant as ever but seems softer ("I love it when you play doctor." 3x17), as if she means it with more sincerity but also has something to lose. As mentioned above, this is around the time they start sleeping together again.
Root continues crushing on Shaw, but doesn't do anything to change the status quo. Until 3x23 when Shaw comes to save her at the Decima fortress, which is the first hint that Shaw likes her back. Root fully expected to die on that mission and sounds unusually serious when she says, "Admit it, you were worried about me." But when Shaw's reply doesn't reveal anything, she continues with their usual banter.
The next development happens in 4x05 when Root, again believing she's going to die, asks Finch to give Shaw a message. While unwilling to approach the subject with Shaw directly in case it violates her boundaries, she views her feelings as significant enough that she wants Shaw to know if the worst happens.
In 4x07 when Shaw chooses to stay with Root, she is clearly thrilled. Following Shaw's confession she teasingly asks, "and is that why you came to see me?", but the answer doesn't matter. She knows how Shaw feels, her actions say everything.
As stated above, neither take the plunge to change their relationship after this. When Shaw sacrifices herself, Root is devastated and willing to do anything to find her.
After they are reunited, they have both been holding onto their love for those nine months. Root never stopped looking for Shaw or believed she would betray them, Shaw viewed Root as her safe place. So I headcanon that shortly after their meeting in the park, they have a conversation about their relationship and are officially 'together'. This is shown in 5x10 by their easy, flirtatious banter ("You want to stick around, give 'em a proper welcome?" "Thought you'd never ask.") and tender, vulnerable conversation while holding hands ("This might be the first time I feel like I belong.").
You know in Person of Interest whenever Root wanted to mess with people and she'd randomly bring up an incredibly obscure fact about them that immediately made the person she was talking to start sweating because wow you know the reason I'm named Lionel was because of a lion cub in a zoo the day they found out my mom was pregnant. I didn't even know that. Very not creepy at all.
Do we think she deliberately asked The Machine for random unsettling facts in preparation for meeting them? Or do we think The Machine followed along in conversations and picked the exact right time to feed Root the information?
Picturing The Machine with the same type of humour as Root seeing some guy insulting her and being like "Hey Root guess what this guy is making fun of you for being crazy but tell him his wife is about to divorce him for the mailman and see what happens." Like this is the intelligence who looked at all of humanity and picked the most unhinged killer for hire like hi yes you come be my chosen voice and superhero. Obviously Root gets a kick out of terrifying people but the thought of The Machine not just being happy to give her the information but also the one instigating sometimes? I love it.
(Bonus points if after the finale it changed it's sense of humour slightly to better mirror Shaw's. They're a new symphony after all, three instead of two. They can keep many parts of their old selves but they need to find a new rhythm for a new combination.)
